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posted by martyb on Thursday February 27 2020, @10:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-not-geef-either dept.

Peanut butter brand Jif has put forth their opinion on how to pronounce GIF.

From their website(warning, lots of animated GIFs):

When is it OK to call a Gif a "Jif"? Never.

Jif® is peanut butter. GIFs are
looping animations.
SNACK ON THAT.

That would be all well and good except for just one thing. The person who actually created the format, Steve Wilhite, explicitly stated GIF was to be pronounced with a soft "G"!

From a 1997 edition of the NetBITS newsletter, down near the bottom of the page appears:

It's "Jiff" and I Don't Want to Hear Another Word -- Logic may dictate the "g" in GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is pronounced hard, like gift or gefilte fish, but that didn't stop dozens and dozens of readers from offering opinions, many of them hilarious.

However, several people wrote to say that they either worked with folks at CompuServe or read the original GIF specification, all of which specified a soft "g". None of us at NetBITS understand why we haven't seen the definitive word before, so here it is. Charlie Reading <charlier@kreber.com> writes:

I worked with the creator of GIF (Steve Wilhite) when I was still employed by CompuServe. Steve always pronounced it "jiff" and would correct those who pronounced it with a hard G. "Choosy developers choose GIF" (spinning off of a historically popular peanut butter commercial).

An article at Ars Technica actually queries professional linguists in pursuit of the ultimate answer.

See this Sesame Street-like GIF which mentions popular words that start with a soft G such as Giant and Giraffe.

Lastly, here is a short video (1m18s) with what is quite possibly the strongest affirmation of all. David Karp presents Steve Wilhite with the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 17th Annual Webbys where Steve dramatically uses a GIF as his acceptance 'speech' and sets the matter straight once and for all.

Not that it settles anything. The debate will rage on like vi vs. Emacs.


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  • (Score: 1, Redundant) by tangomargarine on Thursday February 27 2020, @03:13PM (5 children)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday February 27 2020, @03:13PM (#963524)

    Idiotic patent laws forced us to not use GIFs for a couple of decades, not technical inadequacies.
    Those who really love freedoms said "fuck patent laws, I don't need any GIFs, I'm sticking with pee-enn-ghees, don't tread on my file formats!"

    PNG was developed as an improved, non-patented replacement for Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).

    Your post was made a lot more confusing when you reversed the formats later on.

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
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  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by FatPhil on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:56PM (4 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday February 27 2020, @09:56PM (#963796) Homepage
    No, you're an idiot. Re-read my post for comprehension, and then apologise.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday February 28 2020, @03:54PM (3 children)

      by tangomargarine (667) on Friday February 28 2020, @03:54PM (#964142)

      So your argument is, purposely violating the patent laws by using a closed format is a better way to exercise freedom than using the format that was open and unencumbered in the first place?

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by FatPhil on Sunday March 01 2020, @05:34AM (2 children)

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Sunday March 01 2020, @05:34AM (#964784) Homepage
        Yes.

        Why are you telling me what the argument I've just spelled out to you is?

        Did you run your finger under the text as you read it out?

        Thanks for the downmod, by the way. Gimme another.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday March 02 2020, @04:34PM (1 child)

          by tangomargarine (667) on Monday March 02 2020, @04:34PM (#965541)

          Why are you telling me what the argument I've just spelled out to you is?

          To make sure I'm actually understanding what it is. Obviously I failed the first time around.

          Thanks for the downmod, by the way. Gimme another.

          Should you really be throwing stones in this area? I assume you're the one who modded me Redundant in the first place.

          I mod people Flamebait when they call other posters names or otherwise insult them without other useful content in their posts.

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
          • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 03 2020, @08:09AM

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday March 03 2020, @08:09AM (#965904) Homepage
            > Obviously I failed the first time around.

            Yes, which explains your derpy response to it that added nothing to the discussion apart from noise.

            > I assume you're the one who modded me Redundant in the first place.

            Yes, and now you almost appear to appreciate why; if not, reread the first two lines of this post again, until you do.
            --
            Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves